I have a bit of a mini challenge this weekend as I am on vacation visiting a friend. I set a bit aside before the trip and I already paid for my ticket. I hope to stay under budget. So far I am doing pretty well for the month.

Not much news to report. I have a list of stuff that I would really like to buy for my place and for myself, but so far I am being good. I am really tempted though with all the coupon codes I keeping getting in my inbox.

I have a lot of extra expenses this month with car insurance and Christmas gifts. I am trying to earn money from my freelance work to pay for these. Right now they are on credit cards so I have until the middle of January. If I don't have enough by then I will have to slow down my savings, but they will definitely be paid off before the bill is due.

Thanks nossorc! I love my new place, but it is a lot harder than I thought it would be.

I did end up buying some clothes on sale this week. Also I bought a ticket for New Year's Eve. Even though the statement cycle isn't over yet, I was getting a little anxious about my credit card balances so I took some of the money from my paycheck and paid a bit down. I still have some left on the CCs, but I feel better about it.

I transferred the remainder of my paycheck to savings so I am now at...

I recommend you browse Craigslist.org before you make any furniture 'investments'. Understand that no matter how inexpensive or chi-chi your furniture is, it retains very little value.

I've had tremendous success shopping on Craigslist and garage sales for my entire house (however, I recommend purchasing mattresses and major appliances new). It gives me great satisfaction to be able to furnish a beautiful home and pay no more than 150$ on any item, sofas, antique tables and dining room table and chairs included. Second-hand furniture is a very smart way to furnish your home without sacrificing retirement, travel, or emergency fund goals.

I've been checking Craigslist for the past few months, but hadn't found anything. Yesterday I found the exact set of tables that I'd been looking at in a store. I contacted the seller and I'm getting them for under 40% of retail. My parents are going to give them to me for Christmas!

I made my mini goal of saving $2000, but I decided to change my goals. I read some of Dave Ramsey's book and after crunching some numbers, I think I should try to completely pay off my student loan debt. I was avoiding it because it looks so huge. With no slip ups I believe I can pay it off by the middle of July. A more conservative goal is by October.

To get started I took all the money I received for Christmas gifts and brought the total to $8,082.85

Then I took approx $1000 from my emergency fund savings and applied it to my loan. This payment is still pending. I am left with the $1000 recommended by Dave in my emergency fund.

I signed up for Mint.com the other day. I really like it. The spending analyzer was pretty interesting. I spent more on dining out and bars (including NYE) than on groceries in December. Hopefully I can get that more in line. As of today my net worth is $18989. This includes all my credit cards, student loans, saving accounts, home equity, and retirement accounts. That will go down in a few days with my next mortgage payment, but its good to have for tracking purposes.

I'm still doing pretty well. January was a good month because I rented my place out for a couple of nights for the Inauguration. I didn't charge that much because I wanted to have some control over who I rented to. I ended up with a nice older couple who treated my place great. I was also able to stick to my budget.

I've done most of my taxes even though I am still waiting on two W2s from my old job. After doing them it was pretty clear that I needed to adjust my withholding some more. It'll be nice to have that money throughout the year.

Except for my tax returns I don't see any windfalls or extra money coming in until May. This is going to be the hard part, trying to pay down this loan out of my paychecks. The withholding change should help.

My loan balance is now $5,785.65. I hope to be at under $4000 soon between my tax refund and February's regular payment.

My tax return was a bit smaller than I initially thought it would be. I also haven't applied all of it because a check I have outstanding for a deposit that should be returned next week.

I've been spending a lot more money lately but I am okay with that because my budget is pretty unrealistic and I'm happy. Most is due to doctor and dentist bills and there is no point in worrying about those.

The good news is that my revised tax withholding raised my paycheck by $60 a period. I now have $501 a month to throw at the student loan. I also qualified for a no fee, no interest balance transfer so I am no longer paying interest on the balance.

I made my full March payment. Also my paycheck increased due to the stimulus so I now have $535 a month to throw at the loan. My goal is to have the loan paid off in July, which is the first anniversary of my closing. In order to do so I will have to earn about $200 extra a month online.

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